AIADMK expels Sasikala as general secretary

AIADMK General Council on Tuesday expelled VK Sasikala from the post of party’s general secretary. The appointment of her nephew TTV Dinakaran as Deputy General Secretary also stands cancelled, said a party leader.

The decision was announced at the AIADMK party general council.

Sasikala was appointed as General Secretary last December following the death of party supremo and Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

Sasikala had appointed Dinakaran as Deputy General Secretary before going to jail.

The general council also resolved to restore all those who were party office bearers appointed by Jayalalithaa. They will continue to hold office now, it said.

The council also nullified the decisions taken by Dinakaran.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his Deputy O Pannerselvam were among those who were present at today’s meeting of the decision-making body, the first since the death of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s last year.

It is also the first after the unification of the two camps led by the Chief Minister and Panneerselvam.

Earlier, a cloud of uncertainty had hung over today’s meeting as the Dhinakaran faction had moved the Madras High Court seeking a stay on it.

The court had upheld an order of a single judge dismissing a plea to stay the AIADMK general council and executive committee meeting convened by Chief Minister K Palaniswami-led faction.

Post the unification of the two camps, Dhinakaran and Palaniswami have been at loggerheads, with 19 MLAs owing allegiance to the former, meeting Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and seeking removal of Palaniswami, on August 22. PTI